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Borlaug's Scientific Legacy

1.
Norman Borlaug’s Scientific Legacies in Wheat

2.
“The seriousness or magnitude of the world food problem should not be
underestimated. Recent success in expanding wheat, rice and maize production in
Asian countries offers the possibility of buying 20-30 years of time.”
- Norman Borlaug, 1969
An Outspoken Visionary
Did we use this time to
get ready for the next
Green Revolution?

3.
Developing Regions Developed Regions World
Wheat Rice C-Grains Other All Crops
%ChangeChanges for production relative to baseline year 2004 in absence of crop
productivity gains from crop germplasm improvement for 1965-2004
Stevenson et al. 2012.

4.
The percentage of people living on less than $1.25 /day
fell from 47% in 1990 to 22% in 2010
Globally, the proportion of undernourished people
decreased from 23% in 1990 to 15%
UN Millennium Development Goals

5.
In 2012, 1.2 billion people were still living in extreme
poverty
Today, more people in South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa
live today with less than $1.50 /day than the entire
population at beginning of the Green Revolution
The number of people living on less than $2 /day is the
same as in 1981
This is exacerbated by slower grain yield
increases, climate change, resource scarcity,
salinization...
However…

14.
Countries that have requested
CIMMYT international nurseries
since 1967
International Wheat
Improvement Network
Co-operator Award

15.
All cooperators that return data will be
entered into a raffle.
The two winners will be invited to visit
CIMMYT’s Wheat Program!
International Nursery Award

16.
Wide Adaptation and Global Climate Change
Yield, rust resistance, heat and drought tolerance enduse quality;
the package to cope with global climate change
Countries that have released
the same line or sister lines

23.
We have the means, we have the capacity to
eliminate hunger from the face of this earth. We
need only the will.
John F. Kennedy, 1961

24.
Dr. Borlaug’s last words were: “Take it to the farmers,”
when he talked to Art Klatt and Bill Raun about the Nitrogen-
sensor technology. I think no other words could summarize
better what Dr. Borlaug stood for.
Farmers, poor farmers and their families were always in the
center of his thinking.
The Ultimate Legacy: Take it to the Farmers
This was, is, and will remain the ultimate goal
of CIMMYT. If we fail in this aspect, we fail in
everything we do and we would not pay the
tribute to Norman Borlaug he deserves.